I open my eyes and see a clear sky. My first thought was that it was raining the last time I remembered being conscious. The grass was digging into my back and there were trees everywhere looming over me. I grunt as I bring myself up to my knees. I drag myself to one of the surrounding trees and lean on it. My arms and Legs were shaky. When I looked around to inspect where I was, I saw Kia laying on the floor. Her mouth was a little bit open and she was sprawled on her side. Even as unkempt as she looked she still looked cute.

“Kia,” I faintly say. She didn’t move. “Kia,” I say this time a little louder. She still laid there without motion. “KIA , “ I shouted with all the energy I had. She lifted her head, tiredness all over her face. 

“Few more minutes mom, “ she said as she put down her head and started to doze off again. I let out a sigh, and started to look around again. There was broken sticks and rocks all over the floor. I stretched and grabbed one of the broken sticks nearest to me. I threw it at Kia, it hit her on the top of her head. Bonk! Suddenly out of nowhere she got up on her feet.  She started walking towards me, she had a complete blank face. I used the tree I was on as support as I struggled to get on my feet. She stopped right in front of me. I did a quick silent prayer, as she put her hand on my shoulder. She suddenly started laughing uncontrollably. 

“ You should have seen the look on your face!” She continues laughing. I sigh. What was even the point of that.

“Where are we,” I say, irritated. Kia looks around and shrugs. 

“I don’t know.” Kia says without seeming to care. Great we’re in the middle of nowhere with no food or water. “Kia I’m serious, what are we supposed to do.” She looks up to the sky, seeming like she's debating on what to do or not. “ We can’t do anything just standing here, let’s look around,” she says while dashing off. Rustle. Rustle. Something behind me went. I look back and see nothing. Kia was getting out of my line of sight, she really needs to slow down sometimes. I race after her.

I dash through the ferns as I race after Kia. Crack. Crack. Even though she went out of my sight of vision I can hear the cracking of the sticks. I started to sweat. I still didn’t have much energy. I notice the plants didn’t look anything like the ones I usually see, which is rarely based off living in the city. Some had one bright blue leaf, some had 2 bright red leaves. I couldn’t hear the cracking anymore. I continue toward where I heard it last. Kia was standing right outside of a city, or should I say village. She turns around and spots me. She looked completely fine and still full of energy. I could feel the sweat all over my body, when I met up with her I collapsed on my knees and start panting. 

“Took you long enough.” I know she’s on the cross country team, but still that's ridiculous. It seemed like we were running for hours. I’m surprised I was able to keep running that long. The village was small and made out of wood and cobblestone.  Their was a fountain in the middle of it. Kia and I were  in front of a pathway into the village. The village looked pretty neat and clean. “This is getting weird ,” Kia says. That’s saying something coming from her.

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Kia starts walking into the village. I get up and follow her. I notice a woman near the fountain. “Over their Kia. “ I point to the fountain. We start walking towards her. A few people were walking around. There were 2 people in a complete armor set, they had some marking on their chest plate. One had a long sword and one had a hammer. When we reached where the women was she looked at us. She has a long, dark green dress. It has light green flowers on it. She has golden blond hair. Her eyes are hazel. 

“Um, do you need anything “ she says. 

“We’re kind of lost, “ Kia says with a slight laugh. 

“ Come with me,” the woman says. She got up and headed toward one of the buildings in the village. Kia and I followed her. She opened the door and went in, Kia and I right behind her. It looked like a house inside. Then it hit me. A women just randomly just let two kids into her own house, no question about parents or anything like that. Suddenly I felt an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

Their was a table with 4 chairs in it, there was also a lot of posters of her with 3 other people. I’m guessing it’s her family. It was one story, and to the left there was a door. Seemed like a modern house. Their was a door to the left of us. She opened it and went in, Kia went in without worrying. I was started to feel suspicious, but I just followed. I left the door behind us open just in case. Through the door was a huge library, multiple shelves of books cluttered in a space. The shelves weren’t small either, there were multiple ladders to reach all the books. 

“Have you guys ever heard of the Gate of Chrono,“ she says, her eyes dancing. 

“No, and I don’t think Kenji has either.” The woman voice was soothing, like a soft whistle. “Let  me explain .“ the woman clears her throat.

“The Gate of Chrono is a portal to my world, every year it goes into a random world and sits there until someone opens it. Once it opens, it destroys itself and rebuilds. This process takes a year and then continues in a loop. No one knows how it was created, it was rumored to be the start of this world, “ she explains.

“Why should we believe you, you could be pulling a prank on us or telling us misleading information, “ I blurted out. She gave a slight grin. 

“What other choice do you have, are you going to wonder everywhere” she says with a smile. 

“ So what are we supposed to do, how do we get back. “ Replying to her.

“ I don’t know ,” she says.